If Happy Ever Afters Did Exist
by Just A Mad Woman With A Box
Summary: When Havelock student Maria gets attacked by some girls in her year,Waterloo Road welcomes her.But what problems will her adoptive mother throw up?And where do we know her from?Drame ensues... This is a Minda story,with hints of Ticki and Kevin/OC :) Rated T for mild swearing. Title taken from Maroon 5's song Payphone, I DO NOT OWN WR OR ANY CHARACTERS YOU RECOGNISE.
1. Chapter 1

**If Happy Ever Afters Did Exist**

**Hello to you, and thanks for reading! How **_**are**_** you?! I can't hear you and I'm not interested. Just kidding, I am!...No, I'm really not, so back to me. I've been planning this story for ages, and I've just finished the first chapter, so I'll put it up and get on with the next one, which might take a few days/weeks, because I have an awful lot of work to do at school. This is, first and foremost, a Minda story, but will contain a little Tikki and most canon pairings, plus Kevin/OC, because Tommy Knight is just so asdfghjkl adorable! So, without further ado, my big Minda fanfiction…TA DA!**

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Chapter 1- Look Who's Back  
(Maria's POV)

I was just walking home from my school, Havelock High, and I don't know what really happened to be honest. It was like, one minute I was strolling along, enjoying the sunshine, the next minute I was on the floor. I saw some girls in my year who'd been being total bitches to me running away. I tried to get up, but found that I couldn't. My ankle KILLS. Just then, a car pulls up and a woman gets out. Tall, quite muscular, layered brown hair, square jawed face and kind brown eyes.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asks me.

"Yeah, just great." I tell her, my voice dripping with sarcasm through clenched teeth. My ankle really does hurt.

"Come on, let me help you up." She offers me her hand, which I take.

My ankle feels like it's either broken or twisted, but apart from that I'm unscathed, apart from a few bruises.

"Cheers," I say to the woman, remembering my manners.

"No problem. Can you walk?" She enquires.

"Uh…not much. I think I've twisted my ankle." I reply.

"Can you call your parents? Have you got a phone on you?"

I go to get my phone out of my pocket, but when I pull it out I find that the screen is cracked and when I press the on button, nothing happens.

"Shit," I mumble. "It's broken!"

The woman frowns. "Mine's back at school, I was just on my way back to get it."

This confused me. School? She looked at least 27! Seeing my confused frown, she explains;

"I'm a teacher at Waterloo Road, it's just down the road."

Waterloo Road…why does that name sound familiar? I rack my brains, but nothing comes to mind. I brush it aside as déjà vu.

"Look, how about I drive you home?" She offers kindly.

"Thanks, but there's no point. I lost my house key, I was just gonna sit on the doorstep and wait for my Mum to get back."

"Well then, let me drive you back to Waterloo Road, you can get that ankle checked out properly an call your Mum from the school office."

Get into a car with a stranger? Even if she has just helped me, I'm still reluctant.

She sees me hesitating and smiles.

"I know, I know…stranger danger and all that! I promise, I'm just trying to help! Waterloo Road's literally 2 minutes away, but I'm not going to force you."

"Okay…" I agree. I don't know why, but there's something about this woman that makes me trust her.

"Come on then!" She smiles and opens the door for me. I get in and she goes round and climbs in the other side.

"I'm Nicki, by the way," She tells me.

"Maria."

A sort of awkward silence descends on the car. I stare out the window, trying to ignore the painful throbbing in my ankle. I swear it's broken. The car pulls into a car park. Nicki gets out and walks round to open the door for me.

"Here," she says, offering me her hand.

"Thanks," I reply as I take it and get out the car. Nicki puts her arm round my shoulders and supports me as she guides me into the school. Leading me down a corridor, we reach a door labelled 'RECEPTION'. Pushing open the door, Nicki leads me in, where there is a friendly looking, pretty (if rather plump) receptionist sat behind a desk eating a cupcake. She looks up as we enter.

"Oh! You alright?!" She asks worriedly.

"Yeah, Sonya, that's why I brought her back here. Because she's alright!" Nicki tells her sarcastically.

Sonya frowns. "There's no need to be rude!" She scolds.

"Look, just get Michael, will you?!" Nicki sighs. She sits me down on one of the seats as Sonya walks through to the office labelled 'MICHAEL BYRNE- HEAD TEACHER'.

A minute later, Sonya, a tall, pretty woman with long, curled blonde hair and a plain looking man on the short side in a suit come out.

"What's your name?" The man, obviously Michael Byrne, asks in a thick Scottish accent.

"Maria," I reply.

"Hi Maria, My name's Mr Byrne, but you can call me Michael. I'm head teacher here at Waterloo Road." He informs me.

"Yeah, I know." I respond without thinking.

"You do?!" He sounds surprised.

"Uh, I read the sign on your door…" I explain awkwardly.

"Right…so, what happened?" He asks. Quick topic change, awkward moment avoided, props to Michael!

"A couple of girls in my year pushed me over, it's not the first time. I think my ankle's broken, though!" I tell him.

"What school are you at?" The blonde woman says. She has a cockney accent and sounds like she's used to giving people orders.

"Havelock…" I tell her.

"Thought as much!" She mutters. "I'll be having words with that head teacher! I'm gonna go talk to a few friends of mine, see what we can do about this, because Havelock sure as hell won't try. I hope you're okay, Maria." She says sincerely.

"Bye, Lorraine." Michael calls.

"See you tomorrow!" Nicki says.

"Do you know your parents number, Maria?" Michael asks me.

"I've not got any parents. I've only got an adoptive mum. But yeah, I know her number." I say, and give the number to Sonya, who calls Mum. I don't really listen to the conversation. She adopted me about a year ago, and no, we don't get on brilliantly, but we've got as good a relationship as we can hope for. I've been raised to look after myself, so I don't take too well to being looked after, but she's alright.

Sonya puts the phone down, drawing me out of my daydream.

"She's on 'er way!" Sonya informs us. Nicki smiles at me.

Just then, the door opens and a woman walks in. She's tall, pretty, with dark hair, brown eyes and tanned skin.

"Lorraine told me what happened, so I came to make sure everything's alright." She explains, seeing us all stare at her. She smiles at me with an expression that closely resembles pity. I come very close to rolling my eyes. Everyone apart from Lorraine's given me pretty much the same expression.

"I'm Mrs Diamond, you must be Maria," she tells me.

"Hi." I say awkwardly.

Another awkward silence follows, with numerous looks passing between Michael, Mrs Diamond and Nicki. They must think I'm stupid enough not to notice. Only Sonya seems oblivious to the awkwardness around her.

"Right, I'm off!" She declares cheerfully, grabbing her bag. "See you all later! Hope you get better soon, Maria!"

"I'm not ill," I point out. She ignores me and hurries out of the room.

"Yeah, I better be off aswell, Tom's expecting me." Nicki says. I notice Michael and Sian exchange looks. There's obviously something going on between Nicki and this 'Tom', then.

"I hope your ankle's alright, Maria. See you Michael, Sian." She nods to the pair.

"Thanks," I tell her, "for everything."

"It's no problem" She smiles at me and leaves.

Great. Yet another awkward silence. They seem to be following me around today.

Sian was the first one to crack.

"Maria, are you going to be alright for a minute?"

I nod; and she drags Michael into his office.

(Sian's POV)

I close the door behind us. He stares at me expectantly, so I get straight to the point.

"I think we should offer Maria a place at Waterloo Road."

He looks at me for a minute, then…

"Yes…yes, I agree."

"Really?!"

"Sian, you don't have to seem so shocked that I agree with you!"

"Yeah, sorry…I was just expecting a big debate or something!" I am genuinely surprised that Michael agrees with me on this. Is that bad? That's bad, isn't it…

Meanwhile…  
(General POV)

A pale blue Volkswagen Golf swerves into the car park and screeches to a halt. The driver's side door is flung open with such force it's nearly ripped off. A woman sporting 6 inch wedges steps out of the car and slams the door closed behind her.

Meanwhile…  
(Maria's POV)

OW. My ankle still kills. And Sian and Michael are still in his office, undoubtedly talking about me. Great. I wish Mum would hurry up…

Meanwhile…  
(General POV)

The front door to the school is thrown open, and heels click-clack down the corridor. Another door, this time marked 'RECEPTION' is flung open.

"Mum!"

"Maria! Are you alright hun? I've been so worried!"

"I'm fine! But, I think my ankle's broken!"

"I'm sure you're just being your normal melodramatic self, it's probably just a bad twist!"

Just then, the door to Michael's office opens, and Michael and Sian exit, still deep in conversation.

"Great! So that's sorted…" Sian takes in the woman in front of her and falters, "…then."

Michael's ability to talk appears to have returned, and he manages to choke out a single word.

"Linda!..."

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**PHEW! So…what do you think?! I know it seems like I've fallen off the face of the Earth, but my other fanfiction's are on hiatus, at least until this is finished. I have planned out most of the chapters of this fanfiction, all of the storylines (it's gonna be a long one!), and when it's gonna finish, but if you have any scene suggestions, or even any one shot ideas, for pretty much any WR pairings, please to message me! Also, reviews make me happy, and a happy writer is a fast writer, so pwease pwease pwease review! Tank you very muchly! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry it's taken so long! My laptop's been dead for a while, but to make up for it I'll upload 2 chapters at once!  
I'd just like to thank WRFAN, brightlightsbrighterdreams, Stevie Radleigh, and meggie1tr, Guest and Guest SO much for reviewing! And also, thank you AbigailEmily, DWSJAFanatic, golden-priestess and Dark-Eyes-Of-Amethyst for adding this story to story alert! Thanks ever so much guys! Now, without further ado, the next chapter…**

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Chapter 2- Explanations  
(General POV)

There was silence in the room for a minute before Sian seemed to come to her senses.

"Michael!" She muttered under her breath.

"I-" He began.

Linda coughed.

Sian glared at Michael, who didn't appear to notice. He was too busy staring at Linda.

Linda refused to meet his gaze, instead staring resolutely at the floor.

To Maria, the whole scene seemed very dramatic, and a million questions filled her head: "How do they know Mum? What's the problem? Why is no one talking? Does Sian _really_ think that nobody can hear her muttering to Michael?! Why is Michael checking Mum out? _WHY_ won't anyone speak?!"

Then a voice cut through her thoughts.

"_Michael._ A word. Now please." Sian dragged Michael into his office for the second time that day.

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**The next 2 parts are happening at the same time **

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(General POV)

Michael, still in a state of shock, allowed himself to be pulled into his office by Sian.

"_What,_" She hissed, "is she doing here?"

Michael stared at her blankly.

"How the hell should I know?" HE asked her.

"Well, do they not let the victim know when their would-be murderer breaks out of prison?!"

"Sian, calm down! Linda…didn't break out." Michael explained carefully.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I dropped the charges." Michael admitted.

"And how long were you going to keep that a secret?!" Sian demanded.

"It was never meant to be a secret! I just didn't think you needed to know!" He told her, raising his point slightly to get his point across.

Sian sighed.

"I don't want Maria here." She said after a while.

"What? Why not? It was your idea in the first place!"

"Well, that was before…"

"Linda!" Michael realised. "It's because of Linda, isn't it?"

He took her silence as a yes.

"Sian, Maria can't help it!"

"Yes, but-"

"No! We are not letting that girl go back to Havelock to get bullied! She is coming to Waterloo Road and that is final!"

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**Meanwhile…**

Linda stood staring at the door.

"Er, Mum?"

Linda seemed to come out of her trance.

"Sorry, yes?"

"What the hell was that all about?!"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, don't give me that! You know _exactly_ what I mean!"

Linda sighed.

"Right. Well… you know how, before I adopted you, I was in prison for a while?"

"Yes…" Maria said slowly.

"Well, Michael was the man that I ran over."

"WHAT!"

"Look, I'm not proud of it, and I had my reasons! He dropped the charges; I thought it was all over and done with. Apparently not."

"Well, did you not notice that Waterloo Road had opened up as a school near here? You are a journalist after all!" Maria was really quite angry. She was always dubbed 'the feisty one' among her friends.

"Yes, I did. I didn't think it would be a problem."

"You shoulda told me."

"I know. Sorry."

"C'mere." Maria pulled her adoptive mother into a hug.

"I think I needed that!" Linda smiled nervously.

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**Reviews make me want to write quicker, even if they criticise. As long as it's constructive **

**Also, check out my Tom/Davina (Tovina) one-shot that may turn into a story, it's called A Familiar Face!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3- Alone Again  
(Linda's POV)

"I think I needed that!" I smiled somewhat nervously at my adoptive daughter. She's a good kid, if slightly reckless. I suppose, with the upbringing she's had, that's only to be expected.

Michael and Sian came back into the room. Cheek, dragging him off like that like she owns him. We never did get on well.

"Right, well. We'd like to offer Maria a place at Waterloo Road." Michael said, suddenly business-like. That's how I can tell he's nervous. He goes all professional. Always has.

"Cool. Whaddya think, Mum?" Maria looked at me.

"Um…yeah. That's great, thanks. What about your friends though, hun?"

"Don't really have any." She shrugged. I sighed. She always seems so carefree about these sorts of things, but I know she doesn't like it.

"Fine." I say, relenting.

"Excellent!" Michael said. Then he paused, looking unsure. "Uh, Sian, why don't you take Maria up to First Aid, get that ankle checked out, yeah?" He shot me a half smile. God, how I missed that smile.

"What?" Sian snapped. I laughed inside. She was obviously not very happy with this arrangement.

Maria rolled her eyes.

"Can't I just go home?!"

"No, I think a nurse should check you out, just quickly. And there's no point driving all the way to the hospital." I said, cottoning on to Michael's plan.

Maria then smiled knowingly, also having realised.

Sian glared at Michael, then me, then smiled sweetly at Maria.

"Follow me,"

Sian helped Maria up. When she was in the doorway, Maria turned.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't!" She said with a wink.

Michael laughed and I sighed.

"Sorry about her!" I said.

"It's fine; I know what they can be like!" He smiled, then realised we were alone again.

Let the awkwardness roll on…

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**Sorry it was so short! Please review and let me know what you think!**

**Also, I have recently watched old Waterloo Road, series 3/4, when it was at its best, in my opinion (apart from the short time with the lovely Miss Hadland!), and I find myself shipping Tovina (Tom/Davina) with as much passion as I ship Minda. Part of me feels like I'm betraying all my Ticki feels, but most of me is perfectly fine with that. I am very much turning my one-shot, A Familiar Face, into a story, where Davina returns with Tom as planned, and Tom's niece Dana (my OC) gets dumped on him. It all ends up being happy families, obviously. I was just wandering how you'd feel about a big Tovina fanfic? Let me know via pm, review, my email evbunting .uk or OhMissHadland .uk, or my twitter OhMissHadland **


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4- Living With It  
(General POV)

Michael went over and sat down on the sofa, and Linda followed suit.

They sat in silence for a minute.

"Why did you do it?" Michael said, at the same time as Linda said;

"I'm so sorry!"

Linda laughed nervously.

"I forgive you- I think. I just need to know why." Michael told her.

"I- you…" She began slowly, before launching into speech; "you made me feel so rejected, like anything I did was never enough, and I couldn't help it, I know you didn't mean to, but you _did!_ And then, when Wayne kidnapped Sian, and she ran out the room, just seeing you run after Princess Sian, I'm sorry, I just…couldn't take it anymore. You couldn't see what was right in front of you!"

Linda then paused, and caught her breath again.

"I had no idea you were feeling like that…I'm sorry." Michael said sincerely.

"You know, when the police questioned me…they declared that I was "mentally unstable". They were probably right."

"Now it's my turn. That fling with Sian- it was a mistake-"

"Tell me about it!" Linda interrupted.

"I wanted what I couldn't have, and yet I still went for it. I, I knew what I was doing was wrong, and someone was going to get hurt, yet I still carried on. What does that say about me?"

Linda was silent for a while.

"Look, I don't know where this leaves us."

Linda sighed. "Me neither. Neither of us can really take the moral high ground over this. What happened between me and Sian was a mistake, it…"

"No, Michael. What I did was terrible. Thank you for forgiving me, but I don't think I'll ever forgive _myself_ for what I did to you. I… I have to live with it."

"And my portrayal?" Michael questioned.

"I'm not really in a position to make judgements." Linda said.

"That's what I'm saying, Linda. Neither am I."

**[A/N- that little speech was taken almost word for word from Torchwood, series 1 Greeks Bearing Gifts, I don't own it.]**

There was silence in the room again.

"Why did you drop the charges?" Linda asked, at the same time as Michael asked;

"So how come you're in Scotland?"

Linda laughed. Michael admired her; it had been far too long since he'd seen her laugh.

"We seem to keep doing that!" She smiled at him, "Go on, you go first!"

"No, _you _go first, I insist!" Michael insisted.

"Ooh, such a gentleman!" When did their relationship go back to how it used to be? Laughing and joking with each other, both of them realised how much they'd missed each other's company.

"Okay, then. Why did you drop the charges?" Linda asked him.

"I guess, a small part of me still cares for you, no matter what you've done. You were there for me when I had no one else, and nothing can change that." He smiled at her, and Linda smiled back, touched by his honesty. "Now me. Why are you in Scotland? Not following me, are you?"

"I'll have you know that we were in Greenock _before_ Waterloo Road!" She informed him, "Both me and Maria needed a fresh start. She…hasn't had the easiest start to life. This is her way of turning over a new leaf. And me, too. So much for escaping the past!"

Michael laughed. "What job are you doing? Still teaching? Oh god, you're not at Havelock, are you?!"

"No, no! Don't worry…I'm not teaching at all, I'm a journalist at a local newspaper." Linda sounded less than enthusiastic about her new job.

"It doesn't suit you." Michael observed.

"Thanks!" Linda said sarcastically, hitting his arm playfully.

(Sian's POV)

Well, Maria seems to be a lovely girl, considering all that's happened to her. She explained to me how her Mum and Dad left her alone for months at a time to go on holidays, and she had to fend for herself. Then the social found out, and took her away, which is where Linda came in. I feel sorry for the poor girl.

Still, Linda! How could Michael be so stupid as to let her off scot-free!

We arrived back at the office, to find Linda flirting outrageously with Michael. I sighed. Stupid woman.

"Just a bad twist!" Maria told Linda cheerfully. Linda smiled.

"Aw, that's great! See, I told you you were just overreacting!" She hugged Maria tightly.

Despite her many, _many_ flaws, it's clear Linda really does care about Maria.

"Right, we better be off!" Linda said. "Get you some rest!" She told Maria.

Michael smiled. "Will we be seeing you at Waterloo Road on Monday then, Maria?"

Maria looked at Linda, who nodded. "Yeah, sure!" Maria said.

"Excellent!" Michael grinned.

"See you around, then, Linda!" Michael said, rubbing her arm.

"Yeah, sure!" She smiled.

There was silence for a minute after Linda and Maria closed the door behind them.

Then I couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"Getting very cosy there, eh Michael?" I raise my eyebrow.

"Hmm…sorry, what?!" He was clearly in a world of his own. Linda's barely been back 5 minutes and she's already got him wrapped round her little finger!

"Nothing! I'll just go!" I say, storming out.

"Bye!" He calls after me. Unbelievable.


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